Even Just For One....

  One can never get too comfortable with anything because we all know that just about that time God will lead us in another direction and it will be for His glory.  I love this work with Children's Relief International and the adventure that is constantly involved with working with God's poorest of the poor.

  This past couple of years I have been dealing with some health issues with malaria and fatigue.  This condition has slowed me down a lot and I have seen more doctors and nurses, taken more vitamins, had shots and tried different medications than at another other time in my life.  My Dad tells me, "it's because I have reached the golden age of 60."  For whatever reason, and God only knows, I have had to make some adjustments to the what, where and when for my work in the next year.  In addition to my own health, my parents are on the finishing end as well and they will need more of a closer look from me for a bit of time.

  With all of this going on, my prayer and focus is to work stateside and raise funds for a project in Kolkata India called Mudpath's.  Many of you already know this information and I wanted to clarify to all that all the funds I raise this year I will be sending to India to help with the Mudpath's children and women.

  I have walked the streets of Kolkata, shared a meal with our Indian partners and God has encouraged my heart that this is the direction that I will take to help meet their financial needs for this next year.

  The words that keep coming to my mind is, "Even Just For One."  When I looked at the scope of my new direction, the lost and hopeless of a nation that worships idols, more idols and anything that they can call an idol, the darkness is overwhelming.  My heart was so sickened by the lack of the light of Christ.  I came home just licking my own wounds trying to figure out how I could manage in this environment.

  As God would have it.  After I was able to take my eyes off of myself, direct them to the Lord and ask for His help with this burden, I began to look at the possibilities of helping the children and women in the Mudpath's project to see the hope of Christ.  To know that "He will never leave you nor forsake you.  To not fear."  It IS His hope that we can all give to each other when the circumstances seem dark and dense. My prayer, my desire, my hope is that Even Just For One, I will raise money to share the gospel, to educate and provide a safe environment for this people group.   Even Just For One, and God knows who those One's are.  It is for the Only One that I will go and make disciples, teaching them about the Christ who came to offer salvation.  Even Just For One.... 

  Thank you to all who have supported me personally in the past and in the future.  I know I have people who pray for me daily and somedays more than just once.  I have to share with you, that without your prayers, my work, my health and all of the other things would not be possible.  God is at work my friends.  He is changing the broken hearts of His created children.

  Obedience,

Singing "Ive got the Joy Joy Joy Joy, down in my heart!"  This is in the home of one of the women who leads bible study in the red light district.  What you see here is the width of the apartment, the bed, the parents sleep on top and the 4 children sleep on the bottom.  The wife who now has accepted Christ, used to service men in this apartment.  Praise the Lord for his hand of grace and mercy!

These are some children from our pre-school program.  My goal is to raise enough money to feed these kids 5 days a week.  Currently we can only feed them 3 days.  They are ages 3-5 years, they are learning their ABC's and simple math and of course about Jesus!

This is a portion of the crowd who came to a Saturday Sports program that is held once a month in the slums of Kolkata.  It is here that they all hear about Jesus and then the fun begins with races, games and other fun activities that otherwise would not take place.  I love it when the mother's come too, they too get to hear the Word spoken.  Isaiah 55:11-12  It is the same with my word, I send it out, and it always produces fruit.  It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.  You will love in joy and peace.  The mountians will burst into song and the trees of the field will clap their hands!
I absolutely love this!!!  We will sing, worship and Praise His Holy name!

  Kathy

Waves of Grace are enough

Cipriano 06/24/1982-06/11/2012

"This is a first generation of Christians here at this church so we had to ask the entire family immediately after the death if they wanted to follow the culture traditions or our Christian beliefs"  Pastor Jeronimo

  Val and I had no idea that last Sunday would be the last time that we would set eyes on our dear friend Cipriano.  Cipriano was a leader at our church.  He was a trusted man with 5 children and a wife that he cared for.  He was going to school at night after he finished his security job in Dondo and then would travel to his home in Centro Emissor, 4klm north by bike.

   Monday was the last anyone would see his smile and know his gentleness as Cipriano was killed on his way home from school around 9pm.  A car passing by hit him on his bike and threw him.  We are told he was killed instantly.  This was the journey of the next 3 days of walking with our church in the grief of losing this great man who fought the good fight of running the race.

  Cipriano's death has been hard for me these last few days.  He was one of my first friends at our little stone and mud church in the bush.  His love for God and his family and church family was obvious in his actions.  He will be greatly missed by all who knew him and had any encounters with him.

  Part of the tradition of death here is for all to spend time with the family in their home.  To sit with the one's who are grieving, pray and sing songs of worship until the funeral.  Usually this is the next day but because Cipriano was killed, there had to be an investigation and that slowed the process to an extra day.

  As we walked towards Cipriano's home on Tuesday for the visitation of the family our pace slowed down.  We had picked up Pastor Zito and I sensed that he was preparing for what we would encounter.  He had spent the night before with the family after the tragic accident so he already had seen the faces of his family.  Today would be the encounter with the entire family, village friends and church.

  When Val and I entered the area of the house, Luisa, (women's leader of our church) entered the doorway and began to cry in a loud voice, "Cipriano is gone sisters, Cipriano is gone!"  The wail of grief permeated the premises.  His wife jump up and was screaming, "My Cipriano is gone, my Cipriano is gone, he's gone already!"  As I held her in my arms we both sobbed uncontrollably.  I felt her grief come upon my own body.  I pray that it was taking some of her sorrow away from her.  Luisa laid her back down on the floor and covered her body in the grieving cloth.

  With Cipriano's wife lay their son, a daughter (two older children) and Cipriano's mother. (children under the age of 12 are not allowed to participate in funerals because of the possibility of experiencing  shock) The grieving tradition is to cover your body so other's can not see you crying.  Friends come and sit close and comfort the family while other's sing.  The room was full, it was dark, the floor covered with women and outside women preparing food, gathering water for the day for cooking and cleaning.  Death is a community event and everyone takes the time to be part in some way.

  I remember one of the songs we sang was in the tribal language Senna.  The words are, "Lord we love Your Wisdom." Give us Your wisdom Lord.  God is the only one who can comfort.  Waves of grief and crying would come and then God's mercy of grace would wave through and then there would be calm.  As a friend, I want to help.  I don't' know what that is.  I don't believe Cipriano's wife knows what that is.  I don't know how she will survive these first few days, weeks, months without the warmth and love of her husband and friend, her protector and provider here on earth.  What I do know is that because Cipriano led his family well, he led them to Christ and they will one day get up and joy will come back into their faces because of Christ.

  Pray with me for this family.  Theresa and their 5 children.  Pray for comfort, peace, that their faith will be increased to lean on our Great Father and they will see the hand of God provide for them.

  Another great soldier in the presence of the Holy One.

Obedience,
Big Mamma

Family Day 2012

There are many traditions that I love about being here in Mozambique and one of the best is the period of time when the Men have their week and special Sunday of recognition, the Women have their's, the Families have their's and the Children's week and Sunday recognition is coming up starting Monday.  Next week will be pointed towards celebrating children in the family.  Many families will serve the children's favorite food, buy a small gift or do a small task for the child to show them honor.

Today at the church in Dondo we are celebrating couples and their families.  It is so sweet to listen to the couples recite a few words of commitment before the family of God.  Every year there seems to be one or two more couples joining in on the tradition.  It is a good one, a time to reflect on the importance of husbands loving their wives and the wives respecting their husbands.

The church was full of people, packed actually, overflowing outside the doors and off of the veranda's.  There is always food share on this day as well to celebrate.  I can tell that the small piece of cake handed out first, was the only thing that many families had to eat this day and maybe yesterday too.  Not everyone has the money, (.72 cents) to buy lunch, many will leave hungry because they had no ticket.  Many will leave wishing their spouse was around to rededicate vows, many will leave hoping that one day their spouse will attend this important event in the life of the Dondo Baptist Church.

Today isn't like any other day here.  This Sunday we focused on what God has called the marriage to be.  One man and one woman, under the commitment  and headship of obedience to each other and God.  I trust God was glorified in the house today.

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Husbands and their wives came forward to show honor and respect to each other and renew their vows.
You can see John and Cindy Pieper on the right up front.

The church is blessing the the couples and their marriage.
And then the kiss!  This brings a lot of hoops and hollering! Even though the
 culture is very sexual, they are modest in their public display of affection.

Sparks handball Team presented a song and it was goooood!
I have had the privilege of watching many of these guys grow
into the godly men that they are today.

The dishes will soon be filled with the holiday special..... Spaghetti.
It smelled really good as I went back to hug the girls behind the scenes to
make sure everyone was fed.  Life is hard here but, oh so good!

Obedience,

Big Mamma

The Untouchables of the Deep Forrest

  There has been a lot of media in the last year about water wells and their importance of bringing clean water into villages in 3rd world countries.  What Children's Relief International is doing is bringing water wells to villages and areas where the people of the Untouchables of the Deep Forest can not drink from the water wells of another caste.  This brings a question to the people's minds.  "Who would give the untouchables clean water to drink?  They are not worthy of clean water, they certainly can not drink from our wells."  But God........ I love that phrase......  But God!  It is our God who has led us to minister to the hearts of the followers of Christ in the Deep Forest.  The numbers are small, but they are growing.

Anath and his brother Pastor Isaiah
The "G" Brother's

  Pastor Isaiah is the son of a well known pastor in the Rajamundry area giving him credibility with other's in the area.  But Pastor Isaiah has also earned his own recognition with the government by receiving an honorable award for service to the community.  Pastor Isaiah has a vision to have 100 church plants in the deep forest and to evangelize many to come to know Christ.  I wish you could know him.  His gentle smile and warm heart that just exueds the love of Jesus.  That presence of Jesus in him just draws you towards him and what he has to say.

Worship Leader/Pastor of a small church in the Deep Forrest
Ministering to the poorest of the poor in India
the Untouchables.

  One of the most vivid stories that Pastor Isaiah shared with us was about a family that worshipped a tree.  One day Pastor Isaiah and his brother Ananth came across a family sitting around a tree worshipping the tree and the brother's asked, "What are you doing?"  The father of the family responded by saying that the tree had provided everything for them.  The tree had given them shade from the sun, fruit for their hunger and branches for burning to prepare their meals, that birds would rest in the branches and they could capture the birds for meals, it provided wood to make their home and the list went on.  Well, as time would tell the story, the tree died and no longer provided all of the things that they had become so dependant upon.  The brother's were passing by one day and saw that their tree had been destroyed and sat to talk with them offering a god that would provide for their every need and they came to know Christ through the witness of the brother's.  The tree family had seen their work in the village and saw that the God that they served was a good and loving god and they wanted to know more about that God.

Another Pastor with an amazing testimony

  One more of the many stories that Pastor and his brother shared with us is about a witch doctor of one of the 12 villages where they have a church plant.  As I understand and remember the story, there is a woman who at one time was a witch doctor and she would mock the christians as they would go to church.  One day she got sick and she called upon all of her gods to heal her and she was getting more sick and near death and the christians from the near by church came to her to help her.  The witchdoctor told the christians that all of the gods she worshipped chose not to heal her and she asked if their god would.  They took her to the church and there she gave her life to Christ and you already know the rest of the story.  She accepted Christ!  And........ she was healed!  Testimonies like this bring other people from the deep forest into the kingdom.  In a land where there is an idol to worship for everything.  A country where the people serve other gods, the work of man's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear or eat or smell.  When distress came upon her, the witchdoctor ran to the Lord your God and heard the call of His voice.  For the Lord our God is a compassionate God; He will not fail, nor destroy, nor forget the covenant with our fathers which He swore to them.  God is working everywhere in the world.  He is everywhere!  And He never leaves us nor forsakes us.  What an amazing God we serve.  I love being His kid and servant.

The goal is to support more pastors of the Untouchables in the Deep Forrest of India.
Pray about how God can use you in His work!

There are more pictures available on my FB page.

Which rock do you stand on?

I ask myself constantly "Why God did you choose for me to be here, an American, blessed above and beyond, and these women, to live in a rock quarry?"  He and His word tells me.....

 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being. Acts 17:26-27

   My first learning of the Rock Quarry ministry and how it came to be is certainly a true God story with a semi-happy ending.  Several years back our President, Dr. Pieratt was traveling from one project to another in Rajamundry and he happen to have a photo journalist with him at the time who could see from the roadside a group of women and children breaking rocks.  Because of this photographers love for unusual shots and an interesting story he wanted to stop and take some pictures.  The rest becomes a story of love and compassion for those who have been blessed to be able to be part of a micro-loan ministry in India.  Today we have 85 recipients of microloans at the rock quarry and this small loan is helping these families better support their families.

  
 For $40 workers of the quarry can buy a load of rocks that will then be broken into smaller rocks and then sold back to the rock quarry for less than $1 dollar a day.  The sun is hot, the air is damp and the shade they use is a self made cover from foilage of an indegenious plant that grows in the area.
                                                 


            

When we drove up in the air conditioned van and jumped out, the ladies all knew that they had visitors.  And those, were special visitors from America.  You see no one would ever come to visit them if they drove a car or a van or a truck because they are part of the "untouchables."  This group of people are from a people group who is considered to be of a lower caste and they are destined to live a life of breaking rocks.

Everyone who works in the rock quarry is at a constant risk of injury, of something going into their eyes, accidents and health issues from inhaling the dust from stones. There are no opportunities for doctors or health care not to mention there is no time for school.  Each day begins with menial chores at home, then to the quarry for a long day of breaking rocks and then back home to end the day.  This is the endless cycle of meaningless work of an untouchable.  How could a person ever have hope with a life such as this?  How could you possibly keep going?  We must tell them about Jesus.  We must tell them that there is a man who came to save us, the save them, to save all from life on earth, and we will one day spend eternity in heaven where streets are made of gold and the first will be last and the last shall be first.  There will come a day when their sorrows, the untouchables sorrows will be gone and the celebration will begin.  But they must believe in Jesus first.  We have to tell them.  We have to tell them about Jesus. 

All four of us ladies came prepared ahead of time to pray for the women, children and men of the quarry to encourage them and pray that they too would be bound to the heart of the God above all gods.  The only one God who could give them hope.  The goal is to raise more funds to be able to give more micro-loans to more women to buy rocks. To bring more women into the circle of ministry.

Children's Relief International has been chosen by God to walk along side of a few of the 400 workers from this area.  We have supported a Pastor to come into this culture to minister to the hearts of this group of people.  A pastor who can pray with them, walk along side of them during their times of discouragement, to pray with them for male children, to pray with them when they are sick and there is no doctor, to speak and teach the name of Jesus so they too will have the assurance of the one day when they will see the face of Jesus too.

There are so many stories to tell, so many lives and voices that need to be heard.  Pray about how God can use you to help the "untouchables" of the rock quarry.

Contact childrensrelief.org today to donate.


Obedience,

kathy

Slums and Red light district/Kolkata

Our first stop was to visit Mudpath's ministry led by Smriti Maity.  An Indian woman around 50 years old with the nickname, "Mighty Mouse" given to her by the CRI office.  Born a Hindu and she became a christian at a young age with the help of a missionary from YWAM.  Just from the stories that had been told of her I had this image that she would be a warrior of sorts and I fell short of what this woman's mold is really made of.

Smriti a long time servant of the King has been walking the slums of Kolkata for years sharing the name of Jesus.  You might think, "that doesn't sound like such a big deal, we do it here all the time."  And I didn't think too much of it either until I walked into the sunlight of the streets of Kolkata myself.

If you know anything about India and this area alone of Kolkata, there is a darkness that I can't put into words.  The culture of India is a mishmash of mythology, the cast system and the worship of thousands of idols.  The god of Kali from the Kalaghat area where we stayed is somewhat worshipped as the worshippers earthly mother, bringing her requests, and praying for prosperity among other things.  This makes me sick to my stomach even to think about it as I write this.  The hopelessness of praying to a piece of stone.  This stone is only one of many of the idols that we encountered while in this district of town.

Our first day in town was a holi-day.  A day that spring is celebrated with many colors of powder that is strewn, thrown and sprayed on homes, people and animals.  It is their way of celebrating the change of season and spreading good luck on each other.  After checking out a few shops and a short walk around the business area it was back to the hotel for some pizza.  Thank goodness, some food I know how to handle.

Day 2 - Smriti came with our driver and off we went to the Pre-school that she runs with the help of 4 other workers.  There they have around 20 children who are totally being blessed by the work of this group of people.  These children are fed hot meals 2x's a week at school, have uniforms, are learning about animals, vegetables, songs and their numbers.  They are learning how to write their ABC's and most importantly they are hearing the name of Jesus spoken as the one true God and the only God needed.  On a regular basis children are turned away from the program because of funding.

The goal for this part of the project is to be able to feed the children 5x's a week a hot meal.  All of these children are from the slums.  They had no idea what vegetables were or had they ever had chicken before they came to Smriti's school.  Sunday school is also provided in this slum area.

Another part of this slum is a Saturday sports program and it involves any child that wants to participate.  Some Saturday's there are up to 100 kids there to play and hear the name of Jesus being spoken.  Pray with me that their ears and hearts will be open to receive the Word of God.
The goal for this part of the project is more funding to provide equipment, materials and snacks.

Day 3 - This day was a bit more difficult for me because of the nature of the background of the children.  Our driver picked us up and off we headed to the red-light district of Kalighat.  There are two ministries here that we visited dealing with the children of prostitutes and a few of the women themselves.

The rooms are dark and dirty but the laughter and singing covered up the signs of dispair in the children's voices.  At the "After School Program" children are learning that they are important, that they are worthy, that they do not have to end up in the profession that their mother's and auntie's have. Smriti helps find those who want to work a job in a safe enviornment.  The students are learning that getting an education is important and that their lives are not just destined to living in the red-light district.  They are learning that they do not have to remain in the lower cast, they can have a future with the hope of Jesus.  There can be freedom.

One young beautiful girl by the name of Sonia jumped up as we walked into the room wanting to greet us.  I would imagine she would be the age of around 12 years old.  She is definitely the age to be working as a prostitute, but by God's grace has not been sold into prostitution yet.  Sonia is pretty much on her own even though she lives with her mother, she is responsible for getting her own meals and cooking for other's as well.  Sonia's mother has several names for her other than what her heart would desire to be called, "dear one, my precious child, you who are beautiful"  It breaks my heart just thinking about the abuse she has already seen in her life.  I am so thankful for the heart of Smriti to offer Sonia love, respect and a word of encouragement.  I am so thankful that Sonia is hearing about the never ending love of Jesus and that she can know that Jesus will never leave her or forsake her no matter what happens.  We will always run towards those who protect us.  Let's pray that Sonia will see that God is her protector.

Each Sunday there is also a Sunday School program for these 20 or so children.
The goal for this program would be funding to rent a larger space and expand the program so more children could attend and find refuge.

 One last stop for our group on Day 3, at the bible study for prostitutes.  I wasn't sure just what I could get pictures of, so I chose with discresion when to pull out my camera.  The alley to the rooms were dark and damp and had a heavy scent of incense.  It was a noisy area, I can't remember what the noises were specifically because the noise in my own head was shouting, "My God, this isn't right!"  My passion for this part of the project is huge.  My heart breaks for the women and children who are pushed, sold, abused, beaten and down right lied to.   This is part of life in India in this cast system.  Prostitution is real, it kills, the sin and evil one seeks to kill and destroy and it is legal in India.  My hearts deepest desire is for the women and children of the Mudpath's ministry to know that there is redemption, I want them to hear about a God who loves them so much that He designed them to be His image bearer's.  I want them to know that there is a power much stronger than the one's they have lived under, that there is victory and one day Jesus will stand before them with open arms and call them His beloved.  I await for this day for myself and in the meantime, I must tell them, I must be a part of the solution.  Even if it is just for one, it must be done.

Kolkata is also known for the Missionaries of Charity where Mother Theresa walked and lived.  It was here on these same streets where she fed the dying, cared for the orphans and helped the widows.  Mother Theresa has played a huge role in the acceptance and movement of the christian belief in the Indian culture. Indians are afraid of becoming Christians because they will be rejected by their families.  Mother Theresa left an undeniable mark on mankind where ever she went because of the love she had and showed to others.  These are two of Mother Theresa's many many inspirational quotes: "If only one little unhappy child is made happy with the love of Jesus, tell me, will it not be worth all of us giving all for that?" and one more that I love, "Carry me into the holes of the poor."

Smriti Maity is a warrior, a hero, and a world changer for Jesus.  This is my next assignment in India.  Prayerfully consider helping support this worthy cause.
With many blessings come much responsibility.

Obedience,
kathy

There is only One who is Worthy

In 2004 God spoke to me very clearly about retiring from my work at Quaker because my ministry there was finished.  I had no idea what I was going to do and I abosolutely had no idea that I would be living in Africa and now traveling to India.  Again in September, God spoke to me about ministry.  My direction for the coming year of 2012-2013 is to raise money for a project that Children's Relief International supports in Calcutta India, "Mudpath's." I don't ask God "why," I just do it.  I know that His plans are above and beyond what I could ever hope for or imagine so I will just wait for His next word.  In the meantime I want to share with you about this recent journey to India  because it is you that will make the difference in the lives of those who we at CRI are reaching in the dark dark world of India.  I have the stories and the names of faces that will be different because of your support.

Overall View:

Because of the internet difficulties and how this trip has effected me personally, I will break these writing's of my journey into 4 sections starting with an overview and then speaking individually of each project that I visited, what I learned and what God is doing there.  I am trusting God and the Holy Spirit to be my guide so pray with me that your eyes and heart will be open to His words through my eyes.

Melody Pieratt, Rebecca Sample, Valerie Dorsey and I were the traveling CRI women's team for a vision trip to India.  Only Valerie and I had ever traveled together so I didn't know quite what to expect but the other two ladies were veterans, so I did expect was some guidance and good information from the other two.  The trip was fun, a learning experience, a time to grow in trusting the Lord because of unknown circumstances and it was good to debrief and process with two who already had gone before.

We traveled from March 6th-18th, Valerie and I had 13 flights in those 12 days and some full days at the airport side.  This was the most exhausting trip I have ever taken and the most emotionally exhausting experience I have ever had.  The thought of being in a country where women are so oppressed, abused, irreguarded, and just bottom line left to be hopeless was about all I could process in 10 days in India.  During my open time while I was traveling, I read a book called Half of the Church by Carolyn James.  The writings of this author gives a hard look at women and their positions in a culture where women have no position.  It opened my eyes to information that I was not aware of and gave me a heart for the women and children of this culture that would have taken me much longer to understand.  And yet, I have to rely on God to speak into my heart what I am to do with all of this tension that I feel because of these circumstances.

I made it a point to smile at every woman I could and even muster up when I was not feeling the greatest.  The time difference between home and there is 11 1/2 hours.  This was in it's self not an easy feat to conquer.  I took sleeping pills to sleep and drank tons of coffee to stay awake and that equaled disaster for me for at least 3 days.  My emotions were on high alert and I couldn't get the images out of my mind of people believeing in thousands of gods.  There are temples of worship everywhere, on every corner, in every market, along side of the road, mock, small made up one's in people's homes and the gods all represented something different.  Most Indians worship, a fish, elephants, a turtle, a boar, the cow of course! (they were everywhere,) a man-lion, a dwarf, sex goddess, a male goddess, a man who buried himself ALIVE for pete's sake so he could be worshipped and the list goes on and on and on into the thousands.  How does one person decide which god to choose and how can he know if his prayers are being heard?  I did learn that of the many gods that are chosen to worship, Jesus is one of them for personal worship but not chosen as the sole god of worship.  There in lies our work...... to minister to those who will never hear the wonders of the God we worship and there need not be any other.  Only one God above all Gods and the King of every King!  Jesus!

The food, the smells, the clothing, the homes, or there lack of homes, the water, how a person sleeps, cleans and works, the language, the worship, the history of the land, everything was different.  India is one of the recognized countries from biblical times in the book of Esther.  I walked on ground that has more stories and conversations than the country we live in has years of being discovered.  I walked on the grounds of a musolium that was built in the 1600's.  Can you imagine who and how many of the who's have taken the same steps that I took?  They must have gazed up into the sky just like I did, they must have thought, "oh how beautiful this building is!" and wondered how did the men of this age create something so beautiful with no machines?  It all had to be done by hand and chisel.  Many many visuals to process.

At the end of the day of each day, I realized that my God is a good and just God and He created it all.....and one day........ every knee will bow.... and every tongue confess..... that Jesus Christ is Lord.

His Word says it, I believe it, and I must tell everyone I can about it.!

I will continue in my next blog about each project visited starting with Mudpath's ministry of Calcutta.

Philippians 2:10

Obedience,

Kathy

India day 1

Are you amazed at the places that God has taken you?  Our plane was descending into the airport in Calcutta, India and as I filled out my immigration information I looked at the date of issue for my passport in 2006.  In 2006 I had no idea that I would be going to India.  I don't believe I had the slightest idea that I even would've considered coming to India.  But God. After exiting the plane the first thing I was confronted with was my two legged flying foe, the mosquito!  After all of the bouts of malaria that I have had in the last 5 years ibis was not what I wanted to see first thing arriving in the country.    It's 1:30am and there are really not many happy faces around. The cab drive was right there to pickups up and take us to the hotel with about an hour's drive ahead of us.  I read or heard once that 78% of deaths of missionaries on the field is due to car accidents.  As the cabbie drove us to our hotel, through red lights, never stopping for anything unless there was nowhere to go and a truck was stopped ahead of us.  Without a spoken word we arrived safely at our hotel in half the time.  The streets were lined with garbage, broken cement debris from buildings, scads of the homeless sleeping on the sidewalks, it looked almost as if a bomb had gone off.   The man who helped us at the hotel was polite and kind reminding us that Wednesday, tomorrow is a holy day here and because of the color of our skin we should probably not go out into the streets.  This holy day is a day when dry paint is thrown all over the city.  Sounds like fun to me.  Holy? Not to me.  Only God is holy, and only He should be celebrated.   Good night.

An Active Warrior

Today I had a conference call with one of my bosses and we began to define what my 2012 year is going to look like working with Children's Relief International.  I can't tell you how pumped I am about learning the heart of a woman who sacrifices her life and comfort to be a servant for the voiceless and silent children of prostitutes in 
Kolkata, India.   Smriti is her name, living as an active warrior is her fame and I want to be like her when I grow up.  It totally excites me to think that I will walk her path, see her work and then be part of what God is doing in this part of her ministry.  It just blows me away to think about how God is working everywhere in the world all at the same time!


Child prostitution is a major problem in India around 1.2 million children with at-least 100 million people are invovled in human trafficking in India each year. Many girls, barely 9 or 10 years old, in prostitution and domestic service in India are tortured, imprisoned, sexually abused and raped.  They are sold by their poor parents, tricked into marriages, and promised employment are locked up for days, starved, beaten and burned with cigarettes until they learn how to service up to 25 clients a day. 


March 6th Valerie and I will be traveling to India to visit 3 of the several different projects that Children's Relief partners with.  Mudpath's of Kolkata will be my main focus and my primary concern for fund raising in 2012.  I have no idea what God is up to this year but "it is going to be good!"  


The scripture tells us to give thanks in everything.  Today I will give thanks for what He is going to do to help these specific children in Kolkata.  Pray with me that they too will one day see the face of Jesus, and God will be glorified.


I will post more information on my blog as we travel the mudpath's of Kolkata.  Below is a picture of Smriti in action.  I'm looking forward to telling the stories!!!!


Obedience,

Kathy